Churn c. 1937

George Loughridge made this drawing, Churn, with what looks like graphite and watercolor. It’s a study, a proposal, maybe, for a design to be applied to a ceramic churn. There’s something about the way the blue seeps into the fibers of the paper – the uncontrolled bleed of it – that feels almost like a happy accident. It’s like the artist is embracing the unpredictable nature of the medium. I keep coming back to the cluster of dark blue marks at the center of the botanical form. They're dense and intense, pooling in certain areas, leaving other areas almost bare, the paper showing through. It’s as though Loughridge is not just depicting an object, but also tracing the passage of time, the flow of ideas, the very act of making. This piece reminds me a little of the studies made by folk artists like Henry Darger, there’s a similar freedom of line and form. Ultimately, art isn't about answers; it's about embracing the questions.